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Murals could turn Band City into eye catching tourist spot Carl Schutz wants to paint the town red ... And green and blue and just about every other color that appears in the murals he wants Moose Jaw to decorate its walls with. Schutz is in Moose Jaw at the request of a Festival of Murals Mayor’s task force to convince citizens murals are a product it can use to make the city a tourist destination. These aren’t simple murals done by school children, but fine art murals by professional artists. “You can’t go second class with what you do. Whatever you decide to do, you have to go for excellence. Otherwise don’t do it at all,” he said. Schutz speaks from experience as a key person in making the Vancouver Island town of Chemainus a world famous tourist attraction. The dying logging town was revived by a plan making murals the centre piece of the town’s now booming tourism industry. Since Chemainus began its mural program when people were leaving town faster than coming in it now boasts a $3 million dollar building program. In answer to the question of what do you do when you run out of walls, Schutz replies, “We build more.” One of the biggest jobs is showing people how murals can become a tourist attraction, he said. As examples, he mentioned Bushard Gardens, the Eiffel Tower and Stratford as artificially created tourist attractions that bring people from all over the world to the cities. An important part of making the murals a viable tourism resource is ensuring they are the highest quality. A walk through downtown Chamainus is like walking through a huge outdoor art gallery with business walls acting as huge canvases for paintings more often seen in museums and art galleries than on the sides of buildings. As the project grew sculpture and carvings were added to the city’s display. To make the project work, a historical theme was selected for Chemamus. “This would work well in Moose Jaw as too. “History is something that young people are interested in learning about and something seniors are interested in because they are a part of the pioneers that are depicted in the murals,” Schutz said. “A lot of people don’t understand what we can do with a mural.
Once they realize what kind of murals we are talking about they become
very
excited,” said Neil Elliot, mural committee chairman. “They must complement each other. They, can’t clash" he said. That’s why Elliot believes historical theme murals are perfect for Moose Jaw. “The architecture here is a great treasure,” Schutz said. “It was one of the first things I noticed coming into the city. “Downtown Moose Jaw has the heart. All we have to do is put some blood back into it.” During the week, Schutz and Elliot will meet with downtown businessmen, national businesses, arts and service clubs and the public. A public meeting is scheduled Thursday in the Harwood Inn Convention Centre at 7:30 p.m. Schutz has a special invitation to those who say the project can’t be done in Moose Jaw. “It can be done because we did it in Chemainus," Schutz said. |
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